Thoroughly engrossing , fans of the series will love it, and fans of a more serious plot will be impressed.
For people who haven't played many MegaTen games and haven't played SMT Nocturne, DDS is going to be very engrossing and certainly very different than most other RPGs (such as FF). The battle system is turn based with each character having an icon that indicates their turn. Simple? Hardly. Each enemy has a strength and a weakness, and in order to survive you MUST exploit the weaknesses. Similarly, your own character has strengths and weaknesses, and in order to not get killed in one hit, you have to protect those weaknesses in some ways. You gain abilities through Mantras, which you buy/download at the savepoints, called Karma Terminals in DDS. After a Mantra is bought and equipped, then you gain Karma points after battles to fill up the gauge and eventually learn the skills on that Mantra. It reminds me a bit of FF9's way of gaining abilities, by equipping bought armors and weapons and such, and learn the skills after gaining AP in battle. If you haven't played MegaTen games before, then DDS might seem incredibly difficult in many ways. There are I believe 8 elements in the game, and all enemies have strengths and weaknesses to these 8 elements, as are your own characters. Finding the weaknesses, remembering them and exploiting them can be very difficult, but is very rewarding when you see the words "weakness" popping up above the enemy.
DDS is nothing without its riveting plot, and it is certainly both fascinating and gruesome. Serph and his comrades live in a place called Junkyard, where Tribes battle eachother every day to gain territory. Laws say to fight and destroy all other tribes, and the winning tribe will then be able to reach Nirvana. One day a pod appeared between the boundary of two tribes, and when it bursts, it embeded seeds of demon in all the people in Junkyard. Now everyone fight by becoming monsters; they fight to win and devour each other.
Yup, in all technicality, the Karma points you win after battles are gained because you "ate" the enemies you killed.
In the aftermath, the black haired mysterious girl named Sera is found, and the Karma Temple sends out a new order; destory the other tribes and bring to the temple, the black haired girl.
This mysterious and intriguing plot can't be worked well without the great characters in the game. I cannot emphasize enough how much I adore each and every one of the characters in the game. Serph is the cold leader, but the player is him, and the player makes the decisions as to what Serph say. Heat, hot headed and impulsive; Argilla, strong yet compassionate; Gale, calm and calculating, but gaining new insights as the game goes on; and Cielo, uh, funny jamaican accent is all I can say. As the story continues, each of these characters change in many ways, lending themselves to the real plot of the tale.
The music in the game is very good as well, but different than a lot of other RPG music. Most of it is electric guitar and synthesizer, fast and hard, at least for the battle themes. Dungeon music are slower, but creepier. Town music is often more depressing, simply because it is the Junkyard, the world of unceasing rain. The pieces fit very well to each area. The only down part is that sometimes the music can be a little be repetitive.
Graphics, the character designs are wonderfully gothic, fitting to the plot and world. The monster designs are incredible. Every single monster in the game is based on some kind of mythological figure, so I find myself very often looking forward to seeing new kinds of monsters and seeing who they are, and drooling after their designs. The dungeons, however, can be a little bland, usually dull metalic corridors that you run down over and over again, but this is basically a reflection of the world in the game; it IS the Junkyard we're in. Overall the graphics are very good; not good like, say, FF12 when it comes out, but it's certainly nothing like PS1 games.
Difficulty wise, if you've played Nocturne, DDS is easier in many ways. In battle, Hama seems to work very often but they're not instant-deaths, while Mudo seems to work a little less. Comboing between the three party characters means you get the multi-hit spells such as Mabufu and Maragi within the first hour of playing, and low MP cost for spells makes it incredibly convenient when battling enemies. This doesn't mean that battles are boring and simply a piece of cake. Like Nocturne, battles can go really bad really quickly, and without strategies and knowing all the enemy's weaknesses, it's impossible for the player to get far. Having Mantras means you can learn basically and unlimited amount of skills (believe me, you run out of money long before you run out of mantras) and can swap and switch whatever you need for any and all situation. This is certainly far easier than Nocturne, where you have to fuse demons together and hope you have a good setup, and if you fight to the next boss only to find you need some other skills, well too bad, it's either you try tou tough it out in the battle, to back to the cathedral to fuse, and lvl a new demon. On the other hand, since you CAN switch and swap as you like (outside of battle, of course), it's very often that unless you do have some of the null spells in your list and used every round, you'll get soundly trounced.
Comparing SMT Nocturne and DDS, I honestly think there are two completely different kind of games. Beside the basic game play that are very similar, the feel to the plotline is far different. Nocturne is more open ended, and it's more based on how the player wants to play it out as. DDS, on the other hand, has a very coherent plot with a set of very specialized characters that has their own unique personality. Even with Serph not talking, it's clear that you're uncovering their story. In Nocturne, it feels more like you're uncovering your own story by making your own choices as to who you want in your party, what skills you have in those comrades, and how you want the plot to go.
In any case, I blabbed long enough, overall the game is very very good. Not as difficult as SMT Nocturne, and in some ways, not AS good. BUT, it is still a very amazing game, on par with many of the FF games (believe me, I'd rank DDS far higher than FF8). IF you are a fairly serious RPgamer and not afraid of spending some serious time and brains on an incredible game, (and not afraid of a deeper and more mature storyline) I definitely recommend this title. IF, however, like one of my friends, you somehow can't stand the idea that your character is actually eating the defeated (even though they don't actually show that, but the idea is there), then, uh, maybe you should stay away. Maybe.